The present invention relates, in general, to the field of computer systems, including computer memory boards, memory modules, scalable servers and rack mounted systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for thermally coupling memory devices to a memory controller in a computer memory board.
Memory devices and their respective controllers must operate within a limited temperature range in order for the memory to meet necessary timing specifications. At present, many different techniques have been employed in an attempt to provide cooling methods for memory modules such as cooling fans, heat sinks, heat spreaders and the like. However, the memory and associated controller devices have heretofore always been cooled through the use of separate devices and techniques.
The problem with this conventional approach is that the memory devices and controller will operate independently at differing temperatures as the operating temperature of the computer memory board fluctuates. In this regard, the controller chip is generally located under a relatively large heat sink, while the memory device DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules) are independently cooled by individual heat spreaders. Each memory module and the controller chip are separate devices and as operating temperatures fluctuate, each separate device will be operating at a different temperature, depending on the controller heat sink size and air flow. As such, the timing window specified by the designer will tend to shift away from its optimum design intent, due to the relatively large temperature difference of each of the devices.
Therefore, it would be highly advantageous to provide a system and method for thermally coupling the memory devices to their associated memory controller such that the timing window would not shift as the operating temperature of the devices fluctuate and such that all of the system memory and controller will operate at the same uniform temperature.